Search results

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming, powder metallurgy and composite material processing are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on these subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE researchers/users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for 1994‐1996, where 1,370 references are listed. This bibliography is an updating of the paper written by Brannberg and Mackerle which has been published in Engineering Computations, Vol. 11 No. 5, 1994, pp. 413‐55.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

This study aims to feature the application of the artificial compressibility method (ACM) for the numerical prediction of two-dimensional (2D) axisymmetric swirling flows.

The respective academic numerical solver, named IGal2D, is based on the axisymmetric Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations, arranged in a pseudo-Cartesian form, enhanced by the addition of the circumferential momentum equation. Discretization of spatial derivative terms within the governing equations is performed via unstructured 2D grid layouts, with a node-centered finite-volume scheme. For the evaluation of inviscid fluxes, the upwind Roe’s approximate Riemann solver is applied, coupled with a higher-order accurate spatial reconstruction, whereas an element-based approach is used for the calculation of gradients required for the viscous ones. Time integration is succeeded through a second-order accurate four-stage Runge-Kutta method, adopting additionally a local time-stepping technique. Further acceleration, in terms of computational time, is achieved by using an agglomeration multigrid scheme, incorporating the full approximation scheme in a V-cycle process, within an efficient edge-based data structure.

A detailed validation of the proposed numerical methodology is performed by encountering both inviscid and viscous (laminar and turbulent) swirling flows with axial symmetry. IGal2D is compared against the commercial software ANSYS fluent – by using appropriate metrics and characteristic flow quantities – but also against experimental measurements, confirming the proposed methodology’s potential to predict such flows in terms of accuracy.

This study provides a robust methodology for the accurate prediction of swirling flows by combining the axisymmetric RANS equations with ACM. In addition, a detailed description of the convective flux Jacobian is provided, filling a respective gap in research literature.

This paper aims to discuss research and design of learning activities involving activity tracking and wearable activity tracking technology.

Three studies are summarized as part of a program of research that sought to design new learning activities for classroom settings. The first used data from a qualitative interview study of adult athletes who self-track. The second used video excerpts from a designed learning activity with a group of fifth grade elementary students. The third study draws largely on quantitative assessment data from an activity tracking unit enactment in a rural sixth grade class.

Activity tracking appears to provide opportunities for establishing benchmarks and calibration opportunities related to intensity of physical activities. Those features of activity tracking can be leveraged to develop learning activities where elementary students discover features of data and how data are affected by different distributions. Students can show significant improvement related to statistical reasoning in classroom instructional units that centralize the use of self-tracked data.

As activity tracking is becoming a more ubiquitous practice with increased pervasiveness and familiarity with mobile and wearable technologies, this paper demonstrates a topical intersection between the information and learning sciences, illustrates how self-tracking can be recruited for instructional settings, and it discusses concerns that have emerged in the past several years as the technology related to activity tracking begins to be used for educational purposes.

Foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operate in complex and competitive international environments, implement market and non-market strategies, manage resources and value-added activities and contribute to the overall performance of their parent firms. Thus, the research question on the determinants of MNE foreign subsidiaries’ performance is of interest to managers and academic researchers. The empirical literature has flourished over the recent decades; however, the domains are fragmented, and the findings are inclusive. The purpose of this study is to systematically review, analyse and synthesize the empirical articles in this area, identify research gaps and suggest a future research agenda.

This study uses the qualitative content analysis method in reviewing and analysing 150 articles published in 24 scholarly journals during the period 2000–2023.

The literature uses a variety of theoretical perspectives to examine the key determinants of subsidiary performance which can be grouped into six major domains, namely, home- and host country-level factors; distance between home and host countries; the characteristics of parent firms and of subsidiaries; and governance mechanisms (the establishment modes and ownership strategy, subsidiary autonomy and the use of home country expatriates for transferring knowledge from the headquarters and controlling foreign subsidiaries). A range of objective and subjective indicators are used to measure subsidiary performance. Yet, the research shows a lack of broader integration of theories and presents inconsistent theoretical predictions, inconclusive empirical findings and estimation bias, which hinder our understanding of how the determinants independently and jointly shape the performance of foreign subsidiaries.

This study provides a comprehensive, nuanced and systematic review that synthesizes and clarifies the determinants of subsidiary performance, offers deeper insights from both theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects and proposes some promising avenues for future research directions.

Drawing on social identity theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose and test a conceptual framework of the mechanism of customer response toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Islamic banks.

A survey was completed by 203 customers of Islamic banks in Bahrain. Structural equation modeling, was used to test the hypotheses.

Islamic ethics fit partially mediates the relationship between CSR initiatives and consumer-bank identification (CBI) which in turn contributes positively to customer advocacy. These findings emphasize the importance of CSR practices compliance with Islamic ethics principles for customers to identify with and advocate Islamic bank.

Understanding the mechanism of customers’ responses toward CSR initiatives of Islamic banks provides insights into the complexities of Islamic bank customers’ perceptions of CSR initiatives. The successful introduction of a mediating variable, namely, Islamic ethics fit suggests future research opportunities.

Much of the value of the present work is because of the findings regarding the relationship between CSR and customer responses. The originality of this study lies in being the first research examining the mediating role of Islamic ethics fit to the relationship between CSR initiatives and CBI which in turn enhances Islamic banks’ advocacy.

Nowadays, technostress is a common problem for many organisations. The purpose of this research is to investigate the underlying mechanisms under which enterprise social networks (ESNs) leads to technostress and their consequences.

The authors collected data from 242 employees working in research and development (R&D) centres in India and analysed the data using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

The findings of the study contribute to the growing body of knowledge in “dark side of social media research” by researching the phenomenon of higher use of ESNs in organisations and the consequences while theoretically delineating the effect of social, hedonic and cognitive use of ESNs in organisations on technostress, thus extending prior research on adverse impact of social media and technostress research. The results revealed that both ESNs’ need and technostress is adversely related to mental health, performance and greater turnover intention, and perceived organisation support (POS) played a moderating role in this relationship such that with higher POS, employee turnover intention reduces. By uncovering the role of POS as a potential moderator, the findings provide empirical evidence for POS and technostress in organisations, thus offering practical implications for the ESNs strategists, managers and practitioners to develop ESNs’ usage policies to avoid adverse outcomes of technostress in organisations.

This research advances theoretical understanding of the relationship between ESNs, technostress, mental health, performance and turnover” intention while contributing extensively to the technostress literature and to the scholarship of ESNs. In addition, by uncovering the role of perceived organisational support as a potential moderator, this study contributes to the existing literature on POS.

The empirically tested model delivered by this research will enable organisations to understand different excessive usage patterns of ESNs at work, which contribute to negative outcomes for organisations and employees. The findings support the maintenance of social life at work affecting better employee mental health, and the application of cognitive use of ESNs can reduce technostress. Hence, organisational strategies should implement employee policies and interventions that facilitate better work–social life and well-being, simultaneously encouraging usage of ESNs largely for work-related information transmission and sharing within the organisations.

This study constructed a moderated-mediation model by introducing the potential mediating effect of technostress, mental health and performance and the moderating effect of POS to reveal the mechanism through which ESNs related to technostress, mental health, performance and turnover intention in the Indian context.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the self-protective behaviors of young adult cyberstalking victims and the factors that impact adoption of such behaviors.

This study used a sample of 880 young adults (18–25 years of age) who had experienced cyberstalking victimization within the previous 12 months. Data were collected through an online self-report survey hosted on Qualtrics from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk workers.

Results revealed that three-quarters of cyberstalking victims engaged in at least one form of self-protective behavior. The most commonly adopted self-protective behavior was blocking unwanted communications only (29%), while 40% of cyberstalking victims noted engaging in multiple forms of self-protective behaviors. While results varied across models, findings revealed that incident characteristics and respondent characteristics impacted the likelihood of engaging in self-protective behaviors after a cyberstalking victimization experience.

This study contributes to the literature examining the self-protective behaviors adopted by cyberstalking victims, which can shed light on other forms of cyber abuse and help explain victims’ low reporting rates to official sources (e.g. law enforcement).

Prior research on business analytics has advanced substantially our understanding of how social media analytics affect business performance. However, the specific value of social media analytics to product innovation has not been fully explored and appreciated. To address this important issue, the present study draws on the resource-based view and the knowledge-based view to examine (1) whether the use of social media analytics strengthens radical product innovation to a greater extent than it does incremental product innovation and (2) how knowledge-exploration competence and knowledge-exploitation competence mediate the influence of social media analytics on radical and incremental product innovation.

This study tested the proposed model using data collected from 205 manufacturing firms. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the research hypotheses using LISREL 8.80 software program.

The statistical findings provide compelling evidence that the use of social media analytics is more likely to lead to radical product innovation than to incremental product innovation. In addition, knowledge-exploration competence only partially mediates the relationship between social media analytics and radical product innovation. Knowledge-exploitation competence not only partially mediates such a relationship, but also fully mediates the link between social media analytics and incremental product innovation.

This study contributes to the social media analytics and innovation literature by offering novel theoretical and empirical insights into how firms can leverage the value of social media analytics to create superior product innovation.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance effects of pure innovation strategies (creative and imitative) versus the combination of the two innovation strategies (combination innovation strategy) and to determine whether implementing the combination innovation strategy produces an incremental performance benefit over the pure innovation strategies.

We used archival data from the Korea Innovation Survey (KIS) completed by a large sample of South Korea manufacturing firms and some financial data provided by the South Korea Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI). We used hierarchical multiple regression analysis to analyze the data from 486 firms.

The findings indicated that firms implementing any of the three innovation strategies of creative innovation, imitative innovation and combination innovation outperforms noninnovators. Results also show that while firms implementing the combination innovation strategy perform better than those implementing imitative innovation strategies, they do not significantly differ in performance from firms implementing the creative innovation strategy. Moreover, we find no performance difference between creative innovation and imitative innovation strategies.

The study highlights the importance of combination innovation strategies for manufacturing firms that rely on imitative innovation strategies to gain competitive advantage in the market. However, it demonstrates that firms that are successful in using creative innovation strategies must use their resources in exploiting that advantage.

Although extant studies have demonstrated the importance of both creative innovation and imitative innovation strategies in enhancing performance, it is not clear whether implementing both strategies at the same time has incremental value for firms. This study focusses on empirically examining the performance implications of creative innovation and imitative innovation strategies, and whether the pursuit of a combination innovation strategy (simultaneous pursuit of both innovation strategies) provides any incremental benefit is unique.